Such shaping frame usually consist of bent wire and are worked into the cups of corsetry, e.g. of bras, bikini tops, bustiers, etc. They retain the fabric of the corsetry in a dimensionally stable manner against the wearer's body even under mechanical loading, e.g. when the wearer is walking, and thus ensure a reliable fit and a well-shaped bust.
In mechanical terms, the shaping frame have to meet various requirements. On the one hand, they are to have the highest possible bending strength in relation to bending resulting from forces which occur in the plane defined by the bent frame (frame plane). On the other hand, they are to be as pliable and/or flexible as possible in relation to bending resulting from forces acting perpendicularly to the frame plane. Finally, a further requirement is to ensure the highest possible level of wearing comfort, i.e. to fulfil the two abovementioned requirements without the wearer having an unpleasant pressing or pinching feeling.
The round-wire shaping frames known from the prior art do not fully satisfy these requirements since they have a relatively high level of rigidity in the direction perpendicular to the frame plane. The likewise known shaping frames which consist of flat-rolled round wire and have a rectangular cross section, of which the long cross-sectional axis is located in the frame plane, fulfil the requirements to better effect since they are more pliable in the direction perpendicular to the frame plane than the shaping frames with a round cross section. If the width of these shaping frames is designed to be as small as possible in the direction perpendicular to the frame plane, in order to increase the flexibility in this direction, then, to counter this, the height of the rectangular cross section, located in the frame plane, has to be increased. This adversely affects, on the one hand, the wearing comfort and, on the other hand, the geometry of the ends of the shaping frames, which are relatively high in relation to their width, with the result that the operation of rounding off their sharp edges in order to protect the fabric of the item of clothing can only be carried out with relatively high outlay.
WO 95/19114 discloses a shaping frame with an I-shaped or bone-shaped cross section. There is also the problem here that it is not possible to reduce as desired the width of the cross section perpendicularly to the frame plane in order to achieve the highest possible level of flexibility in this direction.
DE-B 1 048 542 describes a stiffening frame for bras which has a C-shaped cross section. The C-profile of this known stiffening frame is arranged such that the frame plane runs essentially transversely through the central region of the C-curve. This results in a relatively high level of rigidity in the direction perpendicular to the frame plane, and this is increased further in that the C-profile is reinforced, in those regions of the stiffening frame which are subjected to particular loading, by means of a metal coating arranged in the cavity enclosed by the C-profile.
Furthermore, DE-A 29 02 065 discloses a supporting-wire arrangement which is intended for a bra and is made up of a relatively rigid U-shaped element and of a less rigid extension element. The two elements are arranged one behind the other in the direction perpendicular to the frame plane and are fixedly connected to one another along their congruent regions and at a plurality of locations by spot welding. This increases the rigidity in the congruent regions in the direction perpendicular to the frame plane.
The doubled corset reinforcement described in German Patent 76647 is made up of two spring-steel rods which are located one upon the other and are retained on one another such that they can be displaced with respect to one another in the event of loading in the longitudinal direction.
Finally, the prior art discloses shaping frame which are made of so-called memory metals and ensure excellent flexibility in the direction perpendicular to the frame plane. However, these frames also have a considerably lower level of rigidity in the frame plane and, moreover, memory metals cost so much as to preclude cost-effective production of shaping frame using these materials.